Our dedicated staff are working hard to make sure you are given the best quality of care in a safe and clean environment. To help us do this we have made infection prevention one of our top clinical priorities.
Our infection prevention and control team are available 24 hours a day to support our staff and answer any questions they have.
Below are example of some of the ways we are actively fighting infections in our hospitals
Rolling deep clean and maintenance programme
We have a rolling programme in place to deep clean and maintain our wards. When we are deep cleaning one of our wards:
- We remove the clutter from the ward
- The whole ward area and all of the equipment and furniture is cleaned
- Any urgent maintenance work that is needed is carried out
Hand hygiene
Our staff are trained to use the five moments of hand hygiene recommended by the National Patient Safety Agency. Senior members of staff carry out monthly audits on our wards to check that our staff are washing their hands correctly.
If you are concerned a member of staff has not washed their hands please ask them to.
Staff training
All of our staff have infection prevention & control training as part of there induction and complete a refresher course once a year.
MRSA screening of patients having planned surgery
We aim to screen all patients who are coming in to have a planned operation. This involves taking a swab to test for MRSA being present on their skin. The test is not uncomfortable or painful for the patient. If the test shows you have MRSA on your skin our staff will explain to you how we can avoid you getting MRSA.
Our infection prevention and control strategy
The aim of our infection prevention and control strategy is to have no avoidable infections and to become one of the top ten performing NHS Trusts in the country.
To help us meet this aim, the strategy not only includes strategic measures to reduce infection but practical solutions as well.
Our Infection Prevention & Control Strategy 2011-2013
Our infection prevention and control annual report 2011/12
Our performance
Each year we are set targets for the number of MRSA and C. difficile cases at our hospitals. Below you can see this year’s target and how we are performing:
| Number of cases April 2011 – March 2012 | Target 2011/12 | Number of cases in 2010/11 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MRSA | 3 post 48-hours | 3 post 48-hours | 5 post 48-hours |
| C. difficile | 11 | 65 | 56 |
